Goodlettsville's Little League all-star team brought a lot of joy to the area en route to winning the U.S. championship in August. / Mark Zaleski / File / For The Tennessean

International funding has developed baseball programs in Uganda since 2002, but young players still learn on very basic dirt and grass fields. / Submitted

Members of team Uganda wave to the crowd after being acknowledged before the start of the championship game of the Little League World Series on August 26, 2012, in South Willamsport, Pennsylvania. / Rob Carr / File / Getty Images

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They’ve been the underdogs. They’ve come from behind to win.

But now, the national champion Goodlettsville Little League baseball team finds its next challenge can’t be overcome on the field — at least not yet.

The effort of players and their families to turn the team’s popularity into a force for good — to support youth baseball in Uganda — has taught them the difficulties of doing good and lasting work such a long way from home. And they’ve learned a thing or two about the hurdles to developing America’s game abroad.

The team’s coach and a handful of families have postponed a winter trip to Uganda because the $30,000 they’ve raised through donations in recent months has not met initial goals.

“We’ve already got our shots, we’ve already got our passports. All we’re lacking is a plane ticket and a place to stay,” said Robert Brown, father to pitcher Luke Brown. “The big money is just not coming in like we would like it to.”

Yet trip organizers say the delay could benefit the project. Although they may lose some momentum as the glow of the national championship fades, they will get more time to learn from experts in international baseball development, including those who have reached out to them in recent months to help.

The goal remains the same: to donate money to build up baseball programs and fields in Uganda, where a team from the city of Lugazi made international news for its appearance in the Little League World Series in August. At the tournament, the Ugandans became the first team from Africa to win a World Series game. Off the field, they made friends with the boys from Goodlettsville.

By some accounts, baseball has been known in Uganda only since 2002, when Richard Stanley, a co-owner of the Trenton Thunder, a minor-league team in the Eastern League, brought along souvenir balls, caps and bats to the country during a business trip.

Since then, Stanley has returned 34 times to oversee construction of a multiple-field baseball complex, which includes dormitories and accommodates coaching clinics he hosts there. His long-term vision pairs baseball with academics to help Ugandan teens earn college scholarships.

He also has tried to help the Good­lettsville fundraisers. He met them recently in Nashville and offered cautionary advice. He warned the team of Ugandan bureaucracy and outright corruption. He knows equipment has been stolen or redirected from the intended recipients — children — to adults. He has seen ball field projects go unfinished and money misused.

“There’s still a risk,” Stanley said. “It’s not smooth.”

They’ve heard similar warnings from Ruth Hoffman, who leads a Canadian team effort that sent lots of equipment to Uganda and funded schooling and games.

“The overwhelming concerns are that the funds won’t be directed as intended, that the outcomes will not be achieved, or if achieved, may not be sustainable,” she said in an email.

Hoffman advised the team to find the right partner in Uganda — someone with authority to see change through — and arrange some form of monitoring for the duration of the project, including careful documentation of spending.

The advice exposed a bit of naivete on Good­lettsville’s part, said Joey Seals, a team parent and trip organizer.

“At first, it was just a gung ho, ‘We’re going to raise some money and give it to them,’ ” he said. “We thought we would just give some money and they would deposit it in their account. We’ve learned that’s probably not the best thing to do.”

From the beginning, some team parents balked at traveling to a potentially dangerous country.

The federal government asks travelers to share travel plans with the U.S. Embassy. Travel alerts in recent months have warned of outbreaks of Ebola and viral hemorrhagic fevers, as well as anti-Western demonstrations — although each warning pertains to specific regions of the country. Seals said those concerns will be considered as plans develop.

Ugandan children learn baseball by playing shoeless in dirt fields, often using makeshift equipment — a batting tee made of stacked plastic pop bottles, for example. The ball rests on the little round mouth of the topmost bottle, then the players take a swing.

The coach of the Lugazi team, Henry Odong, expressed his disappointment at the postponement in an email.

“We strongly believe that when that team is here that is when our baseball will change forever and even bring in more people from different parts of the world,” Odong wrote. “But I understand it since time was very short. ... In all, we still hope they will come.”

Seals said the team is considering its options but still places a high priority on making some sort of trip to Uganda. They’ve been told their presence alone could make more of an impact than money.